1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rail joints for railroad track.
2. Description of the Related Art
A railroad way is formed by joining two sets of parallel rails together, each set of rails formed of a number of rails connected lengthwise at their adjoining aligned ends. When one of the installed rails required replacement due to breakage, damage or completion of useful service life, the old installed rail has been replaced with a replacement or substitute rail, which could be a new or a used rail. In such cases, the replacement or substitute rail has often been a different height than that of the connecting rail to which connection was made.
So far as is known, it has been the practice to maintain the base portions of the replacement rail and the remaining rail of the original joint at a common level in the new joint being formed. This resulted in the upper surfaces of the head portions of the joined rails being at a different height. In these situations, however, there were impacts and shocks caused when the wheels of the engines and the rolling stock passed over the joint with the rail heads of different height. The repeated application of the resulting impacts so caused resulted in damage to the rails with resulting damage and loss of service life for the rails. There were also possible safety concerns.